After looking for a couple of months I finally picked up a 2011 Cayenne S last weekend. I spent a couple of hours on the interior to get rid of all the shine that was on the leather and now it looks much better than in the dealer photos as it's all back to a matte finish.

The interior is Espresso/Cognac and in decent shape but the dealer is still going to do some leather work on it for me as there are a couple of spots on the rear seats with issues. One of the previous owners either had rough kids or a dog, or both.

Other than the hassles I've had with the selling dealer over some things, I do like the CS a lot. It's a practical Porsche for this point in time that I can drive all year long and I get decent mileage for a car this big. It also rides quite nicely. The only thing that would have been nice would have been the tow hitch and/or roof rails but I can get by without them.

I'm hoping it's going to warm up enough today that I can actually get out there and wash and wax it

I've got some of the issues that everybody seems to have like acceleration lag off the line - which isn't really an issue in a daily commute but can be annoying as it just sits there for a moment when you put your foot into it. Needless to say, handling is much better than our Highlander.

My fingers are crossed that I never encounter the scored cylinders that the earlier generation of V8's did although there have been some reports on the latest version as well. Running into that without an aftermarket warranty or CPO can be pretty much a total loss on the vehicle in some cases. I guess one could call it the Cayenne's IMS bearing.

The Cayenne is certainly the appropriate car for your winter weather. I've spent 3 out of 4 weeks since November in Chicago. I've only put gas in the car once since November! It's nice to spend a few weekends in the Boxster. I just replaced my AOS for the 2nd time at 132k on the trusty '99.